developing business models for fecal sludge management in...

Water and Sanitation Program: REPORT

Developing business models for fecal sludge management in MaputoPeter Hawkins and Odete Muxímpua

June 2015

Authors: Peter Hawkins and Odete Muxímpua.

AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to acknowledge the energy and

commitment of the project team, comprising Zito Mugabe,

Adriano Madumuge, Orlando Matendjua, Edvaldo Zimba,

Osório Macuácua, and Jordi Gallego-Ayala, who developed

the Urban Sanitation Status Index. Colleagues from the

World Bank funded Second Maputo Municipal Development

Project, Uri Raich and Louis Helling, managed a Public-

Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) grant for

developing the business skills of the service providers

and facilitated linkages with the Maputo Municipal Council

leadership team. Carla Costa and Vasco Parente of Water

and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) managed

the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) funds for

equipping the service providers, and their colleague Dinis

Namburete carried out the baseline survey in 2011. From

the Maputo Municipal Council, thanks for their steadfast

support go to Victor Fonseca, Councilor for Infrastructure,

and Análio Tembe of the Municipal Water and Sanitation

Department, to Albertina Manhiça and David Cângua, the

successive Administrators of Nlhamankulo District, and

to the neighborhood secretaries and water officers who

supported the work in the field. Other key partners include

Oliveira Rodrigues, president of the service providers’

association, service provider Paulino Uaiene, who made

his facilities available for hands-on training sessions, and

Diamon Mhando, a retired Environmental Health Officer and

small-scale operator from Dar Es Salaam, who shared his

experience with the Maputo operators. Finally, thanks are

due to Amélia Cumbi for managing the logistics and Afonso

Velemo for driving us all wherever we needed to go.

The Water and Sanitation Program is a multi-donor partnership, part of

the World Bank Group’s Water Global Practice, supporting poor people

in obtaining affordable, safe, and sustainable access to water and

sanitation services. WSP’s donors include Australia, Austria, Denmark,

Finland, France, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Luxembourg,

Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United

States, and the World Bank.

Disclaimer

The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed herein

are entirely those of the author and should not be attributed to the

World Bank or its affiliated organizations, or to members of the Board

of Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they

represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the

data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and

other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any

judgment on the part of the World Bank concerning the legal status of

any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries.

Copyright Statement

The material in this work is subject to copyright. Because The World

Bank encourages dissemination of its knowledge, this work may be

reproduced, in whole or in part, for noncommercial purposes as long

as full attribution to the work is given.

© 2015 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The

World Bank

www.wsp.org

Developing business models for fecal sludge management in MaputoPeter Hawkins and Odete Muxímpua

June 2015

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table of Contents

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Developing business models for fecal sludge management in Maputo | Table of contents

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acronyms and abbreviations

AIAS Water and Sanitation Infrastructure BoardAMMEPS Mozambican Association of Micro-Enterprise Service ProvidersCBO Community-Based OrganizationCRA Water Regulatory Council (urban water and sanitation sector regulatory agency)FSM Fecal Sludge ManagementGPS Global Positioning SystemHIV/AIDS Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection and Acquired Immune Deficiency SyndromeIE Individual Manual Bucket EmptierIHE Institute of Hydraulic Engineering (Delft, Netherlands)JSDF Japan Social Development Fund (World Bank Trust Fund)MMC Maputo Municipal CouncilMOPH Ministry of Public Works and HousingNGO Non-Governmental OrganizationPDA Personal Digital AssistantPPIAF Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (World Bank Trust Fund)UNICEF The United Nations Children’s FundUSSI Urban Sanitation Status IndexWC Water Closet (flush toilet)WHO World Health OrganizationWSP Water and Sanitation ProgramWSUP Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor

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ContextOnly 9% of households in Maputo are connected to a sewerage system, whilst 41% rely on pit latrines and 49% use septic tanks and pour-flush toilets. Although almost 90% of Maputo residents have access to a hygienic excreta disposal facility as defined by the World Health Organization/ The United Nations Children’s Fund (WHO/UNICEF) Joint Monitoring Program, this ignores the fact that most of them are not emptied hygienically, with obvious and extremely negative implications for public health and the environment. An analysis of fecal waste flows in Maputo shows that only 3% of the total fecal waste produced actually passes through the treatment plant, whilst more than 50% contaminates backyards, the drainage system and Maputo Bay. It is also clear that the biggest problem area is with on-site systems, with much fecal waste being unsafely dumped by local burial or in ditches and unoccupied ground, and even that which is safely removed being partly dumped into the environment or inadequately treated.

This problem of Fecal Sludge Management (FSM) is particularly acute in the city’s older unplanned settlements, typified by Nhlamankulu, which is one of five Municipal Districts that comprise the mainland (urban) portion of Maputo city, and has a population of about 150,000 people distributed across 11 neighborhoods. In order to develop a scalable intervention strategy, a project targeting the whole of Nhlamankulu District was undertaken, comprising the improvement of toilets in low-income rental compounds, building technical capacity in the municipal sanitation department, and promotion of improved sanitary practices at household level, as well as the development of sustainable private sector capacity to provide FSM services adapted to the physical and economic conditions in these peri-urban communities, which is the subject of this document.

The ProjectThe project originated through a request from the Maputo Municipal Council (MMC) to Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) to define and develop a basic level service model for sanitation in peri-urban areas not served by the sewerage system, focusing on improved pit emptying services to replace the existing unhygienic manual services widely used in the District. It was decided to carry out the work in Nhlamankulu District which was regarded by

Executive SummaryMMC as having the most severe sanitation problems in the city, and to work at the level of an entire Municipal District so as to be at a scale that would contain all the various administrative elements necessary for a subsequent city-wide roll-out. The project was led by WSP and implemented with four principal partners, namely:

• Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP), an international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), which was already working in Maputo, providing tertiary water networks, standpipes and house connections, and improved sanitation for low-rental compound housing. WSP obtained US$1.8 million from the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF – a World Bank Trust Fund) to enable WSUP to continue with providing sanitation facilities for compound housing, promoting sanitation among the population at large, and developing FSM services adapted to peri-urban realities.

• The Second Maputo Municipal Development Project (ProMaputo), funded by the World Bank, which has the objective of strengthening the capacity of MMC to develop, manage and maintain quality service delivery to its citizens. In support of this objective, entrepreneurial training and market analysis were provided to the private sector FSM operators equipped using the JSDF funds. This component was funded by the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF – a World Bank Trust Funded program).

• The Maputo Municipal Council’s Water and Sanitation Department, under which were developed the beginnings of a neighborhood-based sanitation monitoring system, a plan for building up the sanitation function, a new sanitation byelaw, as well as obtaining funding of about US$ 500,000 from ProMaputo for basic equipment that was lacking.

• The Mozambican Association of Micro-Enterprise Service Providers (AMMEPS), a trade association bringing together the 25 micro-enterprises which provide primary solid waste collection services in the peri-urban neighborhoods of Maputo – although the scope of the Association is national, it only exists in Maputo at present. They took the initiative in seeking to expand the scope of their businesses to include FSM, and assisted in the selection and oversight of the firms participating in this project.

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Developing business models for fecal sludge management in Maputo | Executive Summary

Based on a survey carried out with WSP support by the Maputo Municipal Council in 2011, an average demand of 2,300 emptyings per year in Nhlamankulu District was estimated, with a ratio of about 3 pit latrines to one septic tank. Drawing on current international experience, the service model was designed with transfer facilities, to allow for primary collection with small equipment capable of accessing narrow alleyways and secondary transport to the treatment plant with larger, more economical and roadworthy equipment. Eight private service providers (5 equipped only for primary collection and 3 for both primary collection and secondary transport) were selected as partners for the development of improved FSM services. The primary operators were equipped to provide services from collection to the transfer station, using a 0.5m3 plastic water tank mounted on a handcart, while the secondary operators also had a 2m3 plastic tank which could be mounted on a small truck and taken directly to the treatment works. Emptying equipment issued to all operators consisted of buckets and appropriate hand tools and a Gulper (handpump designed for desludging), intended for use on pit latrines, and a 100mm diesel-powered trash pump for use on the more liquid sludge from septic tanks, as well as personal protective equipment for the workers. Following difficulties with siting the transfer stations (sites were made available by the Maputo Municipal Council, but could not be used due to resistance from nearby residents), 6m3 vacuum tank trailers were procured and issued to the secondary operators as a substitute.

Initial ResultsEffect of Water Supply on SanitationThe urban environment has the potential to change rapidly over time, which was the case in Nhlamankulu District. Although the 2011 survey showed that 68% of households in the project area used improved and traditional pit latrines and 32% used septic tanks and pour flush latrines, data on the same neighborhoods from a city-wide survey conducted by WSP in 2013 show a remarkable transformation, with 36% using pit latrines and 64% septic tanks and pour flush. This rapid switch from pits to septic tanks has meant that desludging operations now need to remove greater volumes of a more watery sludge than was originally envisaged at project design.

Increasing access to household water connections maybe one of the main reasons why people are moving up the sanitation ladder to water-seal toilets. Starting from late 2011, a number of water supply improvements were made in Maputo, including connection campaigns, improvements to the tertiary network and increased water production. In Nhlamankulu, access to individual connections doubled to almost 80% by 2014. This is closely reflected in the type of sanitation facilities, with the use of flush toilets (WC) tripling in two years, thereby reducing the use of pit latrines.

Customer SatisfactionAn assessment of customer satisfaction was carried out in September and October, 2014, with a view to understanding their reasons for using or not using the new service. A total of 99 households were interviewed, 61% of which were customers and the remaining 39% potential customers who decided not to use the services after contacting an operator. Eighty-seven percent of respondents were septic tank users and only 13% pit latrine users. The majority (63%) of households which rejected the new services had used manual emptying methods before, either by informal emptiers or household members; while customers who used the services had commonly (47%) used mechanized services previously, followed (33%) by manual services. Forty-two percent of respondents reported that the fecal sludge was buried in their yards, whilst 43% stated that it was taken to the wastewater treatment plant. About 10% of respondents (mainly those using manual emptiers) reported that the sludge was dumped the into drainage channels. Households relying on pit latrines were primarily (77%) using manual emptying, while those on septic tanks used both manual (35%) and mechanized (45%) emptying services.

Almost 50% of the customers that used the new services did so to try out its efficiency and adequacy and another 23% were attracted by the good customer care available from a locally-based operator. Those rejecting the services cited price as the main reason. General feedback from customers using the service was good, with cleanliness and hygienic practices being the main reason for satisfaction (52%), followed by a related factor, the use of appropriate equipment (13%). Though pricing is clearly an issue that needs to be reviewed, 85% of the customers reported that they would use the service again.

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Cost of the ServicesTypical prices charged were between US$ 30 and US$70, for both those that accepted and those that rejected the service. At least 13% of those who rejected the service hired a manual emptier after rejecting the new services, admitting that they were conscious of the associated risks, but that they had no option but to use a cheaper service. Many (55%) of the pit latrine users (generally less well off than septic tank users) are not willing to pay more than US$ 25 for emptying, whilst of septic tank users, 42% were willing to pay up to US$ 40, and 35% more than US$ 40.

Many potential customers, particularly pit latrine users, continue to use cheap and unhygienic manual emptying with local burial or open dumping, with price being the most common disincentive cited. While the prices applied during the pilot do not cover amortization of capital investment cost, they still appear to be too high for poor households, and about three times those practiced by the manual emptiers.

Size and Scope of Service ProvidersWith a variety of sanitation facility types to be serviced and the fast-changing nature of peri-urban communities, service providers need to be able to provide an inclusive and comprehensive set of options in order to sustain their business. The very small scale primary service providers appear to be too small to be self-sustaining and ended up working with the larger secondary operators, often in the role of front-line sales staff.

Technology IssuesA few spillages occurred initially with both the Gulper handpumps and the diesel-powered trash pumps, but as the operators became more skilled, these problems were overcome. The use of plastic water tanks to carry the sludge also gave rise to some spillages on the rough roads in the project area, as the covers are not watertight. Solutions to this problem are being developed.

The use of a handcart with a 500-liter tank for primary collection was found to be very challenging on the unpaved roads in the project area, so the possibility of using a motor tricycle instead of a handcart was considered, but rejected as the great majority of demand comes from septic tanks, where sludge volumes per service are typically 2m3-3m3.

The operators spontaneously developed a system whereby fecal sludge is directly transferred by bucket or trash pump to a 2m3 or 6m3 tank that can be hauled directly to the treatment works at reasonable cost.

RecommendationsGiven the on-going modification of the service models, more time is needed to draw out the full lessons from this pilot, and this will be done over the coming months. However, there are already some clear recommendations that can be made to MMC and the existing service providers, and which would also be valid in other areas, if and when the experience is rolled out.

SubsidiesThe low affordability of improved FSM services to the poorest potential users emerged clearly as an issue that needs to be resolved. In Maputo, as in most African cities, transport to the treatment works is by far the largest component of the service cost. As this is primarily a public good, and in line with the fact that nearly all sewerage systems, at least in developing countries, fail to recover capital costs, a subsidy for this step in the sanitation service chain should be considered. This could be paid out of the sanitation tariff which will soon be added to all water bills.

Although sanitation is entirely a municipal responsibility and the water utility has no mandate for sanitation, the principle of charging for sanitation on water bills is already established nationally, and has been operationalized in Beira (and for a time in Quelimane). Solid waste fees are charged in many cities via the electricity bill, with the utility charging a commission for the collection, and the procedure for the sanitation fee would be the same, but via the water bill. The main difficulty in introducing the sanitation tariff is the need for regulatory oversight, which in turn requires clear separation of the finances of the Municipal Sanitation Department, so that they can be examined by the regulator. The establishment of autonomous municipal entities is a new phenomenon, and it is taking time for the Municipalities to develop the necessary institutional and legal arrangements.

Decentralized TreatmentGiven the larger sludge volumes generated by the water-using facilities that have been built following water supply

Developing business models for fecal sludge management in Maputo | Executive Summary

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improvements in the project area, transfer stations and transfer equipment would need to be much larger, and thus less cost-effective. However, decentralized treatment facilities would greatly reduce the need for road haulage. This would of course depend on the availability of land and the acceptability of the technology to nearby residents. WSP and MMC will continue to examine possible approaches to this.

Size of the Service Provider EnterprisesThis study confirms the observation by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Choudhry and Kone, 2012) that very small FSM enterprises are not sustainable, and that other sources of income than household emptying are necessary to ensure viability. Given the range of facilities to be emptied, from the simplest of dry pits to fully engineered septic tanks, and the variable access conditions in peri-urban areas, a FSM service provider needs to be able to maintain a range of equipment to deal with all eventualities. It is also clear that marketing is important, which requires a certain critical mass to be effective, although individual efforts through local networking are also useful. Following the arrangements that are evolving spontaneously amongst the operators, and taking cognizance of the fact that one operator per neighborhood is appropriate for solid waste

management, but possibly too many for FSM, an option could be to establish a limited number of full-service (collection and transport to disposal) operators with small trained temporary teams in each neighborhood, who would promote the service and be paid per client by the main operator. These small teams would be branded and supervised by the main operator to ensure service quality.

TechnologyTechnological options for FSM in peri-urban areas still need to be improved. A number of technologies have been adapted to date, but they still require further development. In particular, dealing with the thicker and drier sludge from dry pit latrines while minimizing contact with the operator is still a challenge which needs to be addressed. Better tanks for primary fecal sludge transport are also needed. WSP will collaborate with the service providers to develop suitable solutions.

MonitoringAccess to information is essential for service design and development. Given the dynamic nature of peri-urban settlements, local government should establish monitoring systems that continually update sanitation status to support better planning and prioritization.

Developing Business Models for Fecal Sludge Management in Maputo | Executive Summary

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IntroductionI.1.1 Background and ObjectivesOver the next 100 years, Africa’s population will expand from 1 billion to 4 billion, and most of this growth will be in urban areas. This rapid urbanization has already happened in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries and Latin America, and is currently happening in Asia. Sewerage systems will at best expand from current levels of 10-20% to perhaps a third of the urban area (although just keeping up with population growth will be a major challenge) which means that the norm for urban Africans will continue to be on-site sanitation. Despite this, a wide-ranging study1 shows that effective fecal sludge management (FSM) is still a largely unsolved problem, with services mostly delivered by an unregulated informal sector. It is, however, beginning to receive more attention, and progress is now being made in

1 WSP, 2014 2 JMP, 2014

a few places, notably in a global research project currently being undertaken by WSP, and in Dakar, Senegal, where the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is funding a major project to systematize FSM in the city. The work reported in this document focuses on a pilot project to develop sustainable and affordable FSM services for Maputo’s most densely settled and unplanned district, Nlhamankulu.

Access to sanitation services is still a major challenge in Mozambique’s urban areas, especially for the poor. Almost four decades after independence, less than half of the country’s 8 million urban residents have access to improved sanitation2, and 12% still defecate in the open. However, these figures hide serious deficiencies further down the sanitation service chain, with very limited availability of emptying, transport and treatment services for fecal

TaBlE 1: IMPORTANCE OF ON-SITE SANITATION IN DEVElOPING COUNTRy CITIES (SOURCE: WSP, 2014)

Country CityPop (M)

% Households Using

On-site Systems Sewerage Open Defecation

latin America

Bolivia Santa Cruz 1.9 51% 44% 5%

Honduras Tegucigalpa 1.3 16% 81% 3%

Nicaragua Managua 1.0 56% 40% 4%

Africa

Mozambique Maputo 1.9 89% 10% 1%

Senegal Dakar 2.7 73% 25% 2%

Uganda Kampala 1.5 90% 9% 1%

South Asia

Bangladesh Dhaka 16.0 79% 20% 1%

India Delhi 16.3 24% 75% 1%

East Asia

Cambodia Phnom Penh 1.6 72% 25% 3%

Indonesia Palu 0.4 91% n/a 9%

Philippines Dumaguete 0.1 97% n/a 3%

Philippines Manila 15.3 88% 9% 3%

Totals 64% 34% 2%

2

FIGURE 1: SANITATION COVERAGE IN MAPUTOwaste in most Mozambican urban centers. Currently, less than 5% of premises in these urban centers are sewered, usually in the city center, while the great majority of the population relies on on-site sanitation solutions, mostly improved latrines.

A number of studies have shown that inadequate access to sanitation increases health risks, especially in children under five, who are the victims of 80% of sanitation-related illnesses and diarrheal disease (Bartlett, 2003; Bartlett, 2008; Bartram & Cairncross, 2010) and stunting, with this effect most severe in densely-populated urban areas (Spears, 2013). In Mozambique, inadequate sanitation results in regular cholera outbreaks (on average 7,500 cases per year), widespread diarrheal disease (on average 25,000 reported cases per year) and high child mortality (108 per 1,000 live births)3. This poor sanitation costs an estimated 124 million dollars per year4 to the country’s economy, mostly due to time lost accessing health care, premature death, productivity losses and health care costs.

In Maputo, Mozambique’s largest urban center and national capital, a recent (2013) study carried out by WSP in partnership with the Maputo Municipal Council (MMC) showed that only 9% of Maputo residents have sewer connections, while the remaining 90% use septic tanks, improved pit latrines and pour-flush toilets, as shown in Figure 1. However, despite this fairly high coverage of sanitation facilities, most of them are not emptied hygienically, which results in large quantities of fecal sludge being dumped directly into the urban environment, with obvious and extremely negative implications for public health and the environment.

Figure 2 shows schematically how excreta are managed along the sanitation service chain in Maputo, in terms of the percentage of population served. The width of the arrows is proportional to the population whose wastes follow each route, and the dark colored arrows represent the fecal matter not safely managed. It can be seen that only 3% of the total sludge and sewage produced actually passes through the treatment plant, whilst more than 50% contaminates

backyards, the drainage system and Maputo Bay. It is also clear that the biggest problem area is with on-site systems, with much fecal waste being unsafely dumped by local burial or in ditches and unoccupied ground, and even that which is safely removed being partly dumped into the environment or inadequately treated. Furthermore, the limited access to improved sanitation is compounded by inadequate water supply, drainage and solid waste management, resulting in the frequent flooding, overflowing latrines and erosion experienced almost everywhere in peri-urban Maputo.

Although the issue of urban sanitation is now receiving more attention from the authorities, following approval of the government’s Urban Water and Sanitation Strategy in 2011, and the recent adoption of a national Integrated Sanitation Plan, attempts to date to improve the situation have been frustrated by the need to involve and effectively coordinate many different institutions and actors, and a lack of proven approaches to tackling the problems on the ground.

3 Disease data from Ministry of Health and mortality data from National Statistics Insti-tute (MICS 2008)4 WSP (2012), Economic Impact of Poor Sanitation In Africa

Developing business models for fecal sludge management in Maputo | Introduction

31%

No toilet

Traditional latrine

Improved latrineWater Closet (WC) + sewer

Water Closet (WC) + septic tank

Pour-flush latrine

10%

9%

1%

37%

12%

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FIGURE 2: FECAl WASTE FlOWS IN MAPUTO


MMC has ultimate responsibility for providing sanitation services to its citizens, but it lacks capacity to manage both the existing sewerage system (to which about 9% of the city’s households are connected, although it is accessible to about 15%), and fecal sludge from the on-site facilities that serve the rest of the population, principally in the peri-urban areas. As a result, in peri-urban Maputo, responsibility for sanitation falls on individual households, who have to build their own sanitation facilities and seek solutions for emptying them when necessary. This gap in service provision has opened a space for small-scale independent providers, ranging from manual bucket emptiers to vacuum tanker operators, who provide emptying and (only in the case of tanker operators) transportation services for fecal sludge. The manual operators either bury the fecal sludge in the customer’s back yard, or dump it on open ground or in drainage ways. This latter option is becoming more common, as densification and subdivision of plots reduces the size of back yards, and available space for burial may have been taken up already by previous emptyings.

To demonstrate the potential of targeted infrastructure, services and sanitary education activities to improve sanitation in informal settlements, a series of interventions was undertaken to improve domestic sanitation at scale in Nhlamankulu District where the challenges seem to be most intractable; Nhlamankulu is one of Maputo’s most densely populated and least well drained low income, unplanned peri-urban areas. Interventions include the improvement of toilets in low-income rental compounds, building technical capacity in the municipal sanitation department, and promotion of improved sanitary practices at household level. The project is also building sustainable private sector capacity to provide Fecal Sludge Management (FSM) services for the desludging of domestic sanitation facilities, and to adapt and develop viable low-cost technology suitable for the physical and economic conditions in these peri-urban communities.

Maputo Fecal Waste Flow Diagram

Safely abandoned

and covered when full

Safely emptied

Unsafely emptied

38%

43%

Treatment Re-use/ DisposalTransportEmptyingContainment

1%

WC to sewer

On-site facility

Open defecation

Residential environment

Leakage/ overflow

Illegally discharged

Legally discharged

5% 7%

Drainage system

Treated

Nottreated

Nottreated

2% 1%

3%

Receiving waters

46%

54%

4

This document focuses specifically on the development of commercially viable FSM services by private providers in Nhlamankulu District, within the context of the wider intervention on sanitation improvements in the District involving the participation of multiple stakeholders. It examines both the technical and commercial viability of the business models tested by 8 small service providers (estimated as being sufficient to serve the whole District) over eight months, and recommends further action towards establishing sustainable FSM services in peri-urban areas. The analysis is complemented by a sanitation survey carried out in 2013, a user assessment in 2014, and a market assessment in 2015 covering the entire city of Maputo.

1.2 Origins and Objective of the ProjectThis project began with a request from the MMC for WSP assistance to develop a sanitation master plan for the city. It was, however, noted that the previous sanitation master plan (produced in 2004 by Lahmeyer, with World Bank funding through the first Maputo Municipal Development Project) had not led to any significant results, and that subsequent interventions in sanitation were small, isolated initiatives, mostly consisting of subsidized latrines offered by NGOs. MMC lacked current information on sanitation status across the city, and so were unable to provide much orientation to these initiatives. It was agreed that MMC would be able to make better progress by taking a more proactive stance, collecting basic information on a regular basis, and intervening in the 85% of the city not served by sewers, which had lacked any public sector intervention since the collapse of the national Improved Latrines Program in the early 2000’s.

There was also a need to establish a more programmatic approach, so as to escape from the cycle of small, uncoordinated projects with little impact at city scale. It was therefore decided to work at the scale of a whole Municipal District, so that all the levels of municipal administration would be involved, with the possibility of scaling-up in the other three peri-urban Districts. Nhlamankulu (see Figure 3) was chosen due to its high concentration of slum housing. It is one of five Municipal Districts that comprise the mainland portion of Maputo city, and has a population of about 150,000 distributed across 11 neighborhoods.

The objective of the project was to develop a sanitation service model for informal settlements, involving relevant public and private sector stakeholders, and to examine its costs and institutional implications, as the first step in developing a model for improving sanitation at scale in peri-urban areas throughout Maputo and in Mozambique’s other main cities. In order to mobilize the necessary resources, WSP established three interlinked partnerships, with:

• Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP), an international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), which was already working in Maputo, providing tertiary water networks, standpipes and house connections, and improved sanitation for low-rental compound housing, where sanitation conditions are deplorable. WSP obtained US$1.8 million from the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF – a World Bank Trust Fund) to enable WSUP to continue with providing sanitation facilities for compound housing, promoting sanitation among the population at large, and developing FSM services adapted to peri-urban realities.

• The Second Maputo Municipal Development Project (ProMaputo), funded by the World Bank, which has the objective of strengthening the capacity of MMC to develop, manage and maintain quality service delivery to its citizens. In support of this objective, entrepreneurial training and market analysis were provided to the private sector FSM operators equipped using the JSDF funds. This component was funded by the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF – a World Bank Trust Funded program).

• The Maputo Municipal Council’s Water and Sanitation Department, under which were developed the beginnings of a neighborhood-based sanitation monitoring system, a plan for building up the sanitation function, a new sanitation byelaw, as well as obtaining funding of about US$ 500,000 from ProMaputo for basic equipment that was lacking.

There was a ready-made partner for FSM service provision in the form of the Mozambican Association of Micro-Enterprise Service Providers (AMMEPS, using its Portuguese name), whose 25 members, currently all in Maputo, provide primary solid waste collection services in


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FIGURE 3: MAP OF MAPUTO AND THE PROJECT AREA

Project Area

City limit

the peri-urban neighborhoods – although the scope of the Association is national, it only exists in Maputo at present. They were seeking business opportunities to supplement their modest income from the solid waste management contracts, and agreed that FSM was a promising new business opportunity. Once the other components outlined above were in place, the private operators were quickly mobilized and have taken an active role in the work.

1.3 Data Sources1.3.1 Data Collection and Monitoring by local

AuthoritiesMMC, in collaboration with WSP, introduced a monitoring process involving local community leaders at the lowest tier of the municipal administration, with the aim of collecting information to improve sanitation planning. It was initially piloted in 2011, in three neighborhoods, and expanded to


6

10 in the same year after it was found to be a useful tool for informing the planning process and future interventions by MMC, as well as contributing to sanitation and hygiene promotion. The system is currently being expanded to district level in Nhlamankulu, and will potentially be extended to cover the entire city over the next two years. This exercise has provided detailed information on water and sanitation status at block level5 (see Annex 1) and raised awareness on the potential role of community-based monitoring in changing sanitation behavior and improving sanitation services in peri-urban areas.

1.3.2 Fecal Sludge Management Business Design and Monitoring

The FSM pilot aimed at collecting data on the technical and financial viability of the services, as very little information is available worldwide. The operators involved in providing the improved services recorded the technical and financial details of each and every emptying operation they carried out, which were then analyzed by the project team, resulting in a number of changes and adaptations as the work progressed. Monitoring data were collected from April, 2014 and it is expected to close the cycle by April 2015 (after one year of operation).

1.3.3 Characterization of Sanitation in Maputo Two data collection exercises were carried out in order to inform the pilot design, and a broader service development initiative being implemented by MMC with support from WSP.

The first data collection exercise was focused on a general characterization of sanitation in the city and the development of indicators for service monitoring and

5 A block (quarteirão) in Maputo consists of about 70 houses

evaluation (see Annex 2). This survey was carried out in late 2013 and covered 1,097 households, giving a 95% statistical confidence level at 3% error. Households were randomly selected across the mainland area of Maputo and interviewed and mapped over 10 days by 12 enumerators using Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and Global Positioning System (GPS). Additional data on discharges at the wastewater treatment plant were also collected during this survey.

The second data collection exercise, aimed at specifically understanding attitudes and practices of potential customers regarding the emptying of onsite systems, targeted households where onsite facilities had previously filled up. This survey, conducted in partnership with IHE Delft, covered 1,200 households. The fieldwork was carried out by 10 trained enumerators in 20 days, using GPS and PDAs, and measuring tapes to determine the size of the onsite facilities.

1.3.4 Customer Feedback Six months after the start of the project, in September 2014, a customer feedback assessment was carried out in order to understand perceptions on the quality of the new services and to inform measures to improve them. This exercise covered both customers served and potential customers who had contacted a service provider but rejected the service. A total of 99 households, representing about two thirds of those who had been in contact with a service provider, were interviewed by two independent enumerators. The aim of the survey had been to follow up all customers, but this proved to be difficult, as the operators were not able to locate all of them. Since then, the operators have started collecting customers’ contact details so they can follow up with them and market repeat services.


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6 WHO and UNICEF JMP http://www.wssinfo.org/data-estimates/table/, accessed August 20117 Based on projections by the National Statistics Institute (INE)8 Republic of Mozambique (3 May, 2011) Poverty Reduction Action Plan (PARP) 2011-2014. The general objective relating to human and social development includes promoting hygiene, expanding access to and use of sanitation services in urban/peri-urban zones, pursuing sustainability in sanitation infrastructure, promoting construction of improved latrines and family latrines, upgrading informal human settlements and installing sanitation infrastructure and services.

2.1 Status of Fecal Sludge Management Services in Mozambique

Around five million people (62% of the urban population of Mozambique) currently lack access to even basic improved sanitation facilities6 and, with about two thirds of Mozambique’s population growth between now and 2050 expected to be in urban areas7, access to improved sanitation will continue to be a critical challenge. The lack of access to improved sanitation is acute in the informal settlements and peri-urban areas of Mozambique’s main cities, resulting in frequent cholera outbreaks, widespread diarrheal disease and high child mortality. The issue of urban poverty is receiving increasing attention from Government, and the improvement of urban sanitation is an explicit goal in the country’s most recent poverty reduction strategy8 as well as being the subject of a current inter-ministerial initiative. Although, for the first time in many years, the issue of urban sanitation is finally gaining some traction with the authorities, results on the ground are limited, partially due to the lack of an approach to sanitation interventions that integrates the multiple stakeholders that need to be involved (Municipal Councils, small-scale private sector, customers). This is compounded by the national policy on water and sanitation, which assigns responsibility for urban sanitation outside sewered areas to individual households, on the mistaken assumption that (self-built) latrines can resolve the problem. This fails to take into account that urban sanitation services do not end at containment, but comprise a whole chain from containment, to emptying, collection, treatment, and final disposal.

Peri-Urban Sanitation in MaputoII.During the 1980s and 1990s, the Government of Mozambique funded a national Improved Latrines Program, which aimed at improving access to sanitation in peri-urban areas by providing subsidized latrine components and construction services. This resulted in the large-scale construction of improved latrines with concrete slabs in the main cities, which still continues today through local private sector precast yards (making mostly concrete blocks and laundry tanks) and masons. The program did not include FSM services, since in the 1980s most peri-urban areas were relatively low density and the rural system of backfilling full pits and relocating the latrine was still viable. However, as the cities densified, starting with the mass rural-urban migration of the civil war years (1982-1992), and continuing subsequently, the need for emptying services has increased drastically in most peri-urban areas. This demand has been met almost entirely by the private and informal sectors, providing services mostly with second-hand vacuum tankers, or manually, with local burial or open dumping on open land and in drainage ways. This has created a number of challenges, which are discussed below.

2.1.1 Pit Emptying Practices and AffordabilityIn most large cities there is a limited availability of vacuum tankers. However, many parts of the unplanned peri-urban areas are inaccessible to these large vehicles, and the service is in any case unaffordable to many low-income households, whilst in smaller cities there is no mechanical emptying equipment at all. The service provision gap is filled by individuals and very small-scale, informal service providers, who currently empty pits manually by unhygienic means, and fail to dispose of the waste safely. Moreover, these service providers are perceived to be doing undignified, demeaning work, and are marginalized socially, whilst at the same time being called upon to provide this essential service. As the price of these services is still relatively high for low-income residents in the areas concerned, pit latrines may be abandoned when full. Space is in any case often not available for new latrines, and as a result, even some households who were previously served, albeit poorly, are slipping back into the use of shared facilities or open defecation.

Percentage of the urban population of Mozambique currently lacking access to even basic improved sanitation facilities.

62%

8

2.1.2 FinancingHygienic fecal sludge management services are more expensive in unplanned neighborhoods, due to the need for primary collection with small equipment capable of accessing densely occupied areas, coupled with secondary transport to disposal with larger tankers, whilst premises with decent road access can be served directly by conventional tankers. In addition, poor people face difficulties in funding large, infrequent expenditures such as for pit emptying, as their incomes tend to be on a daily basis. This double constraint of higher cost and lower availability of money to pay for the services is why no alternative to vacuum tanker services apart from the unhygienic manual service has not emerged spontaneously, and implies the need for a subsidized service, or at the very least, facilitated payment options.

2.1.3 Service Provider CapacityLocal providers of on-site sanitation services – which include the Municipal Councils, precast yards, builders, and pit emptiers (both formal and informal) – have limited capacity and resources to effectively address the lack of access to improved sanitation services in low income areas, perpetuating the current situation. Informal pit emptying service providers in peri-urban areas are generally working at a very small scale and have limited capacity in areas such as hygiene, application of standards, business planning, setting viable service charges, and coordinating with the municipal authorities, as well as limited resources and equipment with which to provide a hygienic service. This is compounded by a total lack of regulation arising from the designation of peri-urban sanitation as a purely household responsibility.

2.2 Peri-Urban Sanitation Services in Maputo

2.2.1 ContainmentUser facilities do no fall into neat and clear technology types. Figure 1 divides them into septic tanks, pour flush toilets, improved pits and unimproved pits, but the reality is more of a continuum. Septic tanks are either simple self-built one or two compartment units or prefabricated plastic ones, connected to a simple soakaway pit. Pour-flush toilets are basically offset pit latrines, with the fecal waste being flushed into the pit through a short sloping PVC soil pipe. Improved pit latrines are characterized by a well-made concrete slab or floor and a block-lined pit, while traditional pit latrines

are typically covered by soil or a precarious arrangement of assorted waste building materials, with the pit not lined or lined with tyres or oil drums. Such pits are too weak to be emptied by mechanically powered equipment, but the Gulper handpump has proven effective in many cases.

From the perspective of pit emptying, the key dividing line is between the septic tank and pour flush types that depend on the use of water, and the pit latrines (sometimes called “dry pits”) which do not require water, and only take in the small quantities used for anal cleansing. The water flushed types produce a more watery sludge, which is easy to pump but which needs to be removed in larger volumes (typically 2m3-3m3), whilst pit latrines have thicker sludges that may require the use of scoops and buckets as they are too heavy to pump, but produce smaller volumes per service, typically around 0.5m3.

The urban environment has the potential to change rapidly over time, which complicates planning in general, and this has also affected this project. A survey in 10 of the city’s 53 neighborhoods carried out by MMC in 2011 with support from WSP9, showed that in the 5 neighborhoods of the project area covered by the survey, 68% of households used improved and traditional pit latrines and 32% septic tanks and pour flush latrines. Data on the same neighborhoods from the city-wide survey in 2013 show a remarkable transformation, with 36% using pit latrines and 64% septic tanks and pour flush (Figure 4a). The progressive switch from pits to septic tanks has meant that desludging operations now need to remove greater volumes of a more watery sludge than was originally envisaged at project design. The implications of this are discussed further in Section 5.1.

Increasing access to household water connections (Figure 4b) may be one of the main reasons why people are moving up the sanitation ladder to water-using toilets. Starting from late 2011, a number of water supply improvements were made in Maputo, including connection campaigns, improvements to the tertiary network and increased water production. In Nhlamankulu, access to individual connections doubled to almost 80% by 2014. This is closely

9 The survey covered 25,000 households in parts of the densely-occupied peri-urban Municipal Districts of Nhlamankulu and Maxaquene

Developing business models for fecal sludge management in Maputo | Peri-Urban Sanitation in Maputo

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FIGURE 4: PROGRESS IN SANITATION AND WATER SUPPly IN NHlAMANkUlU FROM 2011 TO 2013


reflected in the type of sanitation facilities, with the use of flush toilets (WC) tripling in two years, thereby reducing the use of pit latrines.

(a) Sanitation (b) Water Supply

A chi-square test on both the 2011 and 2013 datasets showed very strong correlation between on-plot water supply and the use of a WC or pour-flush toilet.

FIGURE 5: SANITATION FACIlITIES By POVERTy QUINTIlE IN MAPUTO

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As in almost all urban areas across Africa, the poorest households are more likely to use on-site sanitation facilities. An analysis of the distribution of sanitation facilities by poverty quintile in Maputo (Figure 5, based on the 2013 survey) has shown that pit latrines are the most common facility used by the poorest while the wealthiest rely mainly on water closets for their sanitation needs. Pour flush latrines are almost uniformly distributed among the different quintiles, as they represent a transition technology from pit latrines to septic tanks.

About one third of the on-site sanitation facilities in Maputo are almost impossible to empty, mostly due to poor pit lining, or none at all. With an average volume of 3.9 m3, at least 13% of the pit latrines are built from tyres, barrels and/or timber; another 20% are completely unlined, making them difficult to empty with mechanical equipment. Moreover, on-site systems take 3 years to fill up on average, with traditional pit latrines filling up faster than improved latrines and septic tanks, as shown in Table 2.

Building a sanitation facility is a household responsibility, and in Maputo, on-site sanitation facilities cost on average US$ 5410, with traditional latrines costing US$ 35 and septic tanks US$ 220. Many of the facilities built by households on their own fail to meet technical and environmental standards, and there is no quality control either by themselves or by Maputo City Council, giving rise to risks of collapse and harm to users. Improved latrines are mainly built by informal masons or microenterprises with prefabrication yards where they sell latrine components,

TaBlE 2: AVERAGE FIllING PERIOD IN yEARS FOR ON-SITE FACIlITIES IN MAPUTO

Sanitation facility Max Min Mean Median Average vol (m3) N

Septic tank 12.0 0.25 3.26 2.0 12.20 65

Pour flush 15.0 0.50 4.99 2.5 8.50 16

Improved latrine 40.0 0.08 2.95 2.0 10.70 104

Traditional latrine 5.0 0.08 1.32 1.0 3.70 65

Overall 40.0 0.08 2.91 2.0 8.89 249

amongst other items. Some now privately-run units of the defunct national Improved Latrines Program, and some community-based organizations (CBOs) also offer components or build latrines for low-income households. Traditional latrines are normally built by householders themselves, and they buy only the materials.

2.2.2 EmptyingThis is another big challenge for peri-urban residents, as there is no formal service available. Though only 24% of the pits were reported to fill up, at least 57% of those would require to be emptied, making an average of 30 units to be emptied daily in Maputo. Pits in less dense residential areas are more likely to be replaced, rather than emptied as shown in Figure 6, so that urban districts in the outskirts of the city (KaMavota and KaMbucuane) reported more cases of replacement, while in the inner peri-urban districts demand for emptying services is higher. KaMfumo is the central, fully urbanized area, where sewerage and septic tanks predominate

In general, there is a lack of hygienic toilet desludging services in peri-urban Maputo, especially in those areas where it is difficult for conventional vacuum tankers to gain access11. Although some on-site facilities (37%) are emptied with vacuum trucks12, which take the wastes to the municipal sewage treatment works, the much cheaper service most commonly used (43%) for latrine emptying is manual, by individuals and very small-scale, informal service providers using buckets. In these cases, the sludge is generally buried in the user’s backyard, or dumped in the drainage system or in the skips used for secondary collection

10 1US$ = 30Mts 11 Difficult road access was reported in 23% of cases12 Mostly in the case of septic tanks and middle-income households


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FIGURE 6: SySTEMS REQUIRING TO BE EMPTIED VS. POPUlATION DENSITy

of solid waste. Even these services are unaffordable to the lowest-income residents, resulting in pit latrines being abandoned when full and left to overflow during heavy rains when household members are not capable of doing it themselves, which is the case for 18% of households.

Furthermore, as space becomes less available, especially in the densely occupied districts of Nhlamankulu and KaMaxaqueni, some households which previously had improved facilities have been unable to maintain this standard, and end up using shared or unimproved sanitation facilities. This is especially true of compound houses, some of the cheapest and lowest-quality accommodation on the rental market.

The average price for emptying in Maputo was US$ 40, with manual emptying being the least expensive (average US$13 to US$20) while mechanized services cost on average about three times as much, at US$53 (Figure 7). The graphic also shows that manual emptying typically costs 500Mt, with a secondary peak of 1,000Mt, whilst mechanical emptying typically costs 1,500Mt, with secondary peaks at 2,000Mt, 2,500Mt and 3,000Mt, implying that prices are negotiated rather than based on pre-determined volumetric charges.

2.2.3 Fecal Sludge Treatment Only some of the fecal sludge from the city is discharged at the sewage treatment plant. This comprises stabilization ponds which are neither maintained nor monitored, and are largely ineffective, due to siltation and uncontrolled industrial waste discharges probably containing toxic chemicals. More than half of the fecal sludge emptied is buried in the yards of the house where the emptying was carried out. In general users are indifferent as to where their fecal sludge is dumped after being removed from the pit or septic tank.

2.2.4 Overall Status of Sanitation in MaputoAs shown above, sanitation status in Maputo becomes progressively worse moving along the sanitation service chain, with transport and treatment being the least developed components. While containment is generally good and households have invested in improving their sanitation facilities, public services such as emptying, transport and treatment are yet to be improved, posing risks to public health. In order to assist planners and managers in prioritizing interventions, WSP developed an Urban Sanitation Status Index (USSI – see Annex 2), which allows for the assessment, visualization and comparison


BOX 1: DOING A CITy-WIDE SANITATION SURVEy

The data collection exercise for the 2013 survey was undertaken with a team of 12 enumerators over 10 days. An extra 4 days was used for training the enumerators and testing the survey instrument. The total cost was about US$21,000, of which $8,000 for the enumerators, $9,000 for the supervisor, PDA programmer and data manager, and $4,000 for transport. This excludes the costs of developing the survey instrument and analyzing the data, which were done in-house by the WSP team. Similar costs (about $25,000) were reported for a similar exercise in Dhaka, Bangladesh, under the on-going WSP global study of FSM. In the context of project preparation for a large city, this is eminently affordable, and will enable managers to make informed decisions from a city-wide perspective, rather than simply relying on “more of the same” as has been the tendency to date. The on-going WSP global study of FSM aims to produce a suite of diagnostic tools for urban sanitation before June 2016, which will incorporate model survey instruments and protocols, amongst other tools.

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FIGURE 7: PRICES CHARGED FOR EMPTyING

of the various components of the sanitation service chain by neighborhood (ward) across the city, and also includes complementary services such as solid waste and drainage which have direct impact on excreta management services. The following graphics are based on the USSI calculated from the 2013 survey. Figure 8 shows the USSI for Maputo.

This type of analysis has clear applicability for municipal planning, as it gives a fairly fine-grained insight into sanitation in the city. Beyond the obvious differences between the well served central area in the south and the poorly served

peri-urban areas further north, the maps show significant variations within each of the Municipal Districts, with the pilot District of Nhlamankulu displaying the greatest internal diversity. This implies the need for diverse solutions, and underlines the usefulness of regular monitoring, as this spatially diverse behavior is also reflected in rapid changes over time, as mentioned in section 2.2.1. These data (and updated versions of it) will be used by Sanitation Department personnel to plan subsequent steps, as the MMC rolls out sanitation services in the other peri-urban districts.


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FIGURE 8: SANITATION STATUS IN MAPUTO

1. (a) Containment Status 2. (b) Emptying and Transport Status

4. (d) Complementary Services (solid waste, drainage)


3. (c) Treatment and Final Disposal

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2.3 Institutional arrangementsResponsibility for sanitation in peri-urban areas of Maputo is not clearly defined. The Water and Sanitation Infrastructure Board (AIAS) – under the Ministry of Public Works and Housing (MOPH) – is the primary agency responsible for ensuring both water supply in small towns and sanitation in all urban areas in Mozambique, whilst the Water Regulatory Council (CRA), the water and sanitation sector regulatory agency, is responsible for balancing the interests of the main stakeholders, principally the asset manager, service providers and consumers. However, MMC has ultimate legal responsibility for providing sanitation services to its citizens, which it does through its Water and Sanitation Department within the Infrastructure Directorate, as set out schematically below in Figure 9. MMC is not delivering very effectively on this mandate, due on the one hand to a lack of capacity and weak organization throughout the institutional framework, and on the other, to unclear definition of the services required.

While there are reasonably clear policies, strategies and a defined institutional framework for sanitation service delivery, implementation at municipal level leaves a great deal to be desired. Most of the existing institutions are not discharging their responsibilities effectively, and service provision is highly fragmented and poorly coordinated. The main constraints are in financing, regulation and monitoring, all of which are key elements in effective sanitation delivery. Both CRA and AIAS have been assigned responsibility for sanitation only recently, and still have a long way to go in developing their capacity to support Local Governments in tackling the sanitation agenda, a major component of which is the management of fecal sludge in peri-urban areas. CRA has the mandate to regulate private sector service providers and the autonomous sanitation departments envisaged for the larger cities under current legislation, whilst AIAS has the brief to invest in infrastructure and capacity-building for municipal sanitation entities.


FIGURE 9: INSTITUTIONAl FRAMEWORk FOR URBAN SANITATION

CRA Sector Regulator

SSP - Small-scale service providers• Emptying• Latrine Components

Working effectively

Working poorly

Not working

DAS - Municipal Water and Sanitation

Department• Limited emptying

NGOs and CBOs• Emptying• Latrine Construction• Sanitation Promotion

MMC

Consumers

AIAS - Water and Sanitation Administration Board

DNA - National Directorate of Water

Financing, Technical Assistance, Capacity building

Monitoring and

prom

otion

Regulation

Service provision

Servi

ce

prov

ision

Managem

ent

Coordination

Service p

rovision

Prom

otio

n

Policy,

Strate

gy

and reg

ulation

s

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Although sanitation is not being well managed at present, the situation has been improving recently and there is reason to believe that this will continue. Through its long term partnerships with central government and the MMC, WSP has played a central role in raising the profile of sanitation, convincing key decision-makers of its social and economic importance, and a multi-sectoral national Integrated Sanitation Program with a dedicated budget line has now been established by government.

At the MMC, senior managers agreed to include sanitation among a series of functions to be decentralized to the Municipal Districts, and although this decentralization

program has largely died away, the leadership remains committed to improving sanitation. MMC is actively seeking investment to re-equip the sanitation department and rehabilitate the wastewater treatment works, which had fallen into disrepair under central government administration prior to being transferred to MMC in 2013, and is currently developing a framework to improve sanitation services in Maputo, including the introduction of a sanitation tariff, enacting a new sanitation byelaw that directly addresses FSM, and planning, on the basis of this pilot, to roll out FSM service provision by private operators across the rest of the city.


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Components of the Pilot InterventionIII.3.1 Market assessmentPrior to developing an improved service model, an assessment of the existing service providers and demand patterns was made. On the supply side, three types of small-scale FSM service providers were identified in the city, apart from the conventional vacuum tanker operators:• Individualmanualbucketemptiers(IEs);• Community-Based Organization (CBO) service

providers Associação para o Desenvolvimento de Água e Saneamento no Bairro da Urbanização [Urbanização Neighborhood Water and Sanitation Development Association] (ADASBU) and Xivoningo, providing services with VacuTug mini-tankers;

• A micro-enterprise service provider, UaieneGama de Serviços de Maputo [Uaiene Maputo Miscellaneous Services] (UGSM), developed with WSUP support and providing similar services to the Nhlamankulu operators.

Table 3 summarizes the main features of existing FSM service providers in peri-urban Maputo.

3.1.1 Individual Manual EmptiersThe IEs do not have a clear strategy for service provision, and undertake desludging amongst other manual labor tasks, mostly in construction. Customers contact them at locally known locations, often a bar, where they wait for available work (Choudhry and Kone, 2012). Most of them provide their services during the night, as it is less troublesome to the neighbors. Moreover, these service providers are perceived as doing undignified, demeaning work, and are socially marginalized, whilst at the same time providing this essential service.

Many peri-urban residents prefer these traditional services, as they are usually less expensive and also more effective – the mechanical emptiers mostly fail to remove the heavier, more compacted, sludge at the bottom of pits, so it is common for an IE to be called in after a mechanical emptying (Choudhry and Kone, 2012; WSP, 2012).

Although they take the business seriously, FSM services alone are insufficient to survive on, and they combine them with other activities. Fluctuations in demand are high, and they can only rely on FSM services as a source of significant income during the rainy season. As in other African cities, most of them drink heavily before emptying a latrine, as they feel unable to confront the fecal sludge when sober.As entrepreneurs they would like to expand and improve their services, but they perceive access to finance as a major challenge. The project tried initially to work with the IEs, but this proved difficult, partly due to their observed behavior of being drunk while carrying out their pit emptying functions, and partly because they typically operate outside organized institutions. An alternative presented itself in the form of the micro-enterprises that undertake primary solid waste collection in peri-urban neighborhoods under contract to the MMC. This arrangement was facilitated by the World Bank through the ProMaputo project, which was why they approached the Bank, through their association, AMMEPS, in search of extra income-generating opportunities to supplement their rather low income derived from solid waste collection. This also ensured a good spatial distribution, as each micro-enterprise is assigned to a different neighborhood.

3.1.2 CBO Service ProvidersThis business model is based on the delivery of social services such as education on issues like Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) or gender to benefit the community, rather than with a view to making a profit. Although they generally cover operating costs, they rely on grant funding for capital expenditure. Similarly to many other CBOs in Maputo, both ADASBU and Xivoningo lack sustainability. Since WaterAid withdrew their financial support to these CBOs in 2010, their FSM services have been deteriorating and they currently have no capacity to provide secondary transport to the treatment plant, leading them to depend on MMC to empty their transfer tanks every two weeks.

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TABlE 3: FSM SERVICE PROVIDERS IN PERI-URBAN MAPUTO PRIOR TO THE PIlOT

Type of SP

No of SPs interviewed

Services Provided Areas Covered

Technology Used for FSM

Price for Emptying

Challenges

Individual emptier (IE)

6 Emptying of •traditional and improved latrinesEmptying of septic •tanks during the dry seasonExcavation and •other manual labor for latrine and drain construction

Mafalala, Munhuana, Xipamanine, Maxaquene D, Nhlamankulu C

Buckets•Burial of •sludge in the yardUse of •petroleum and creosote to reduce smell

Depending •on the latrine type, depth and diameter, and client capacity to pay: - Latrines (0.2-0.4m3) US$ 7-13

- Septic tanks US$ 30-70

Client should •buy creosote and traditional alcoholic drink

Unsafe •latrines (mainly traditional latrines)Lack of safety •equipment (gloves, boots, masks, etc.)

CBOs 2 Latrine and septic •tank emptyingConstruction of •sanitation facilities and componentsHygiene and •sanitation promotionPrimary solid waste •collection

Urbanização, Maxaquene A, Munhuana, Hulene A, Hulene B

Mini vacuum •tankers (VacuTug) for sludge removal from latrines and septic tanksTemporary •storage in a transfer tankTransport •to sewage treatment plant by vacuum tanker

US$ 7-13 per 0.5m3 depending on distance

Funding of •replacement and major repair of equipmentDevelopment •of a commercially viable business model

Micro-enterprise

1 Latrine and septic •tank emptyingPrimary and •secondary solid waste collectionTransport (taxi)•Car wash•Micro-finance•

Maxaquene A, Maxaquene B, Mafalala, Urbanização

Buckets, •handpump and mechanized pump for sludge removal from latrines and septic tankTransport •to sewage treatment plant in plastic tanks on a small truck

US$ 20-60 per latrine or septic tank emptied, depending on latrine type, depth and diameter, and client capacity to pay

Demand •fluctuations, with lower demand during the dry seasonCapacity and •willingness to pay, especially by low-income householdsMarketing •strategy

Developing business models for fecal sludge management in Maputo | Components of the Pilot Intervention

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FIGURE 10: OCCURRENCE OF FIllING UP By TyPE OF ON-SITE FACIlITIES


13 Capital investment financed by WSUP at zero interest rate 14 MMC would need institutional strengthening and investment to provide these services effectively

In contrast to solid waste management services, where they are regularly paid by the municipality, it is very likely that the FSM services provided by these CBOs will collapse over the short term, if no recovery strategy is put in place. This would create a significant gap in service provision, leaving more than 20,000 households in the neighborhoods where they are based with very limited access to FSM services.3.1.3 Micro-enterprise Service ProviderUGSM was originally a solid waste contractor, but has also been providing emptying services on a commercial basis for almost three years (Godfrey, 2012). Well-equipped13 and assisted by sanitation specialists, UGSM’s FSM activities have been tested and a business plan for sustainable services developed, including marketing and flexible service options. UGSM offers a range of services from traditional bucket emptying, to manual and mechanical emptying, and transfer to the treatment plant. Their initial experience showed that they also needed a transfer station to make their operation economically viable. One was constructed by WSUP, but the results of the investment in terms of reducing FSM costs and the burden on the poorer households are yet to be assessed.

Although all these operators are informal, and their business models not well structured, prior to the pilot they were the only available FSM service providers in Maputo, apart from conventional vacuum tankers, which are often too expensive and/or unable to reach the houses of the majority of peri-urban residents. Whilst there was clear potential for them to adopt improved technologies and business models to become more effective and more sustainable, they needed to be supported by secondary collection services and fecal sludge treatment. These are larger-scale and essentially public goods which should thus, in principle, be provided by the MMC14.

3.1.4 Demand for FSM ServicesThe ultimate demand for FSM services is difficult to assess as there are many factors that influence if and when a system is emptied. To gain insight on this, an assessment of on-site facilities which had filled up in the past was carried out early 2015 to complement the pilot. This showed that there is no particular type of facility which is significantly more or less likely to require emptying (Figure 10). However, on

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FIGURE 11: FORMAl (A) AND INFORMAl (B) SERVICES COVERAGE IN MAPUTO


average, systems that fill up are used by 8 people, which is 33% higher than the average number of users for Maputo in general.

Only 9% of respondents reported discharging grey water into their sanitation facility, while others reported discharging it in their yards (71%), and/or let it flow onto the access roads (43%), as most of them do not have specific facilities for grey water management. Only a very small proportion (0.4%) of households reported dumping solid waste into their latrines. This may be one of the reasons why sanitation systems in Maputo take more time to fill up than in other African cities, such as Lusaka or eThekwini, where solid waste is commonly found in pit latrines (Brouckaert et al, 2013). About half the systems that fill up are emptied, while the other half are covered over and replaced when full. Around 40% of emptyings

are carried out by formal service providers, 40% by manual emptiers, and 20% by household members. Manual, informal emptiers are more predominant in the northern part of the city (Figure 11), located in the outskirts of Maputo and where pit latrines are more common. Price, affordability, simplicity and habit seem to be the prevailing reasons for choosing the emptying service provider, followed by the quality of the service. The main reasons given for facility replacement or emptying are that the facility was full (42%), followed by smell (25%), preventive measure (13%), collapsed pit (13%), and pit overflowing (6%).

3.2 Improved Service ModelsBased on the 2011 survey, the pilot design team estimated an average demand of 2,300 emptyings per year in the district, with a ratio of about 3 pit latrines to one septic

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tank, and a network of service providers was designed to fulfill these needs. Drawing on current international experience, the improved service model was designed with transfer facilities, to allow for primary collection with small equipment capable of accessing narrow alleyways and secondary transport to the treatment plant with larger, more economical and roadworthy equipment. Eight private service providers (5 equipped only for primary collection and 3 for both primary collection and secondary transport) were selected competitively from amongst MMC’s existing peri-urban solid waste management contractors through their association (AMMEPS), which had earlier approached WSP to assist them in developing alternative businesses to complement their solid waste income stream. The selected service providers were trained and equipped to provide hygienic emptying and transport to the municipal wastewater treatment works.

The primary operators were equipped to provide services from collection to the transfer station, using a 0.5m3 plastic water tank mounted on a handcart, while the secondary operators also had a 2m3 plastic tank which could be mounted on a small truck and taken directly to the treatment works. Emptying equipment issued to all operators consisted of buckets and appropriate hand tools and a Gulper (handpump designed for desludging), intended for use on pit latrines, and a 100mm diesel-powered trash

pump for use on the more liquid sludge from septic tanks, as well as personal protective equipment for the workers. Following difficulties with siting the transfer stations (sites were made available by MMC, but could not be used due to resistance from nearby residents), 6m3 vacuum tank trailers were procured and issued to the secondary operators as a substitute. The equipment and costs are listed in Table 4, and illustrated in Figure 12.

The initial project concept was to charge commercial interest rates to the operators, but the interest rates prevalent in the market (25% to 36%) were too high to allow for repayment over an estimated 5 year equipment lifetime whilst still charging affordable prices for the service. This was not a fatal setback, as it was already clear that some kind of subsidy would probably be required, in order to make the service affordable to poor people. In any case, the public goods nature of the downstream portion of the sanitation service chain, and the almost universal situation that investments in sewerage do not repay capital (and hence are effectively subsidized) both justify subsidization of the FSM service. The capital investments were therefore funded through the Japanese Social Development Fund grant to WSUP. However, a nominal fee of 3% off the top of receipts is paid to AMMEPS, which channels the money into a fund to assist the operators with minor investments.

TaBlE 4: FSM EQUIPMENT USED

Operator TypeEquipment Issued

ServicesCapital Cost (US$)Collection Transport

PrimaryGulperTrash pumpBuckets

Handcarts0.5m3 tank

DesludgingPrimary transport

9,000

SecondaryGulperTrash pumpBuckets

Handcarts0.5m3 tank2m3 tank6m3 trailer tank1 operator had his own pickup

DesludgingPrimary transportSecondary transport

21,000


Estimated percentage of emptyings carried out by formal service providers.

Estimated percentage of emptyings carried out by manual emptiers.

Estimated percentage of emptyings carried by household members.

40% 40% 20%

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FIGURE 12: EQUIPMENT USED FOR FSM PIlOT IN MAPUTO

Trash pump

6m3 trailer

0.5m3 handcart

2m3 pickupGulper

Based on a qualitative assessment of the market, assuming a minimum of one operation a day for both primary and secondary operators, the minimum price to sustain the service was estimated at US$ 40 per 500-liter unit (around 3 times the price charged by the informal emptiers) and transfer fees at US$ 13 for the same quantity of sludge. These prices were used initially, but as the operators gained knowledge of the market, their pricing strategy changed (see Table 4).

3.3 Stakeholder Roles and Capacity-building

The project aimed at building capacity in the micro-enterprises already providing solid waste management services, to deliver hygienic, and technical and commercially viable services to serve the peri-urban households of Maputo. Capacity building was designed to target both the operators, through their association,

AMMEPS, and the Municipal Water and Sanitation Department, with a view to ensuring a technical assistance capability for service providers after project completion. Two main forms of support were provided under the pilot: (a) training packages for FSM operation and business management, and (b) capital investment funding, as described in the previous section. Figure 13 presents the key stakeholders involved.

At this stage, MMC was mostly acting as an observer and learning and documenting the Nhlamankulu experience to expand the services to the other areas of Maputo. However, MMC has been promoting the services through its local administrative structure, and has been providing secondary transport support to the secondary operators by way of using a municipally-owned tractor to pull the 6m3 tanker trailers used for transfer to the treatment plant at nominal charge to the operators.


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FIGURE 13: kEy STAkEHOlDERS IN THE FSM PIlOT

FIGURE 14: TRAINING SESSION ON EMPTyING AND TRANSPORT OF FECAl SlUDGE FROM PIT lATRINES

WSP’s role was to design the project, including the training packages, carry out relevant studies to inform the pilot design and implementation, assist the private operators in planning and monitoring their operations, and document the pilot. WSUP was responsible for purchasing the equipment and implementing the capacity building activities under the monitoring component of the project.

Many of the micro-enterprises were not well organized in commercial terms, and some were in any case established as non-profit organizations. The project therefore included training packages on business development and simple accounting for the managers; and technical courses on service management, FSM operations (Figure 14) and safeguards, for the workers and supervisors to minimize public health and environmental risks. The operators were


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Emptying TransportTransfer

BOX 2: MICRO-ENTERPRISE IN DAR ES SAlAAM

Diamon Samson Mhando has been running a FSM micro-enterprise in Dar Es Salaam for over 10 years. He started with manual emptying using a Gulper, primary transport with 20-liter containers and secondary transport with a 350-liter container mounted on a motorbike. With an average cost of US$ 8 per emptying (350 liters), he charges an average of US$ 22, depending on the distance to the treatment facility, difficulties accessing the pit and household capacity to pay. Though he has no formal financial records, it seems that he is making a profit, as he charges almost triple the cost and he has managed to maintain the equipment he was given more than 10 years ago. The main challenges Mr. Mhando faces are related to high solid waste content in the pits and the seasonality of demand.

also trained in simple techniques for market assessment and marketing of their services using simple tools such as posters on their handcarts and talking to potential customers when collecting solid waste.

A combination of theoretical and practical lessons with both classroom and field exercises were designed in order to equip the operators with the necessary knowledge to provide efficient and viable services. Peer-to-peer learning was also used, through the participation of a very experienced operator from Dar-Es-Salaam. The person concerned is a fully trained Environmental Health Officer who worked for many years for the Dar Es Salaam City Council, and then for more than 15 years as a FSM service provider (see Box 2). He was able to provide practical guidance on equipment design and production, service organization and operations. Some experience-based lessons including tips on reducing smell, how to inspect the fecal sludge before choosing the equipment to use, and

safe storage, were very useful to the operators and were not taught by the professional trainers.

Furthermore, the project has created business opportunities by introducing the “Gulper” sludge handpumps, based on technology transferred from Dar Es Salaam. A smith from Maputo designed and produced them locally after seeing the ones being used in Dar Es Salaam as well as designing and producing specially adapted handcarts to carry a 500-litre tank or a set of twelve 20-litre buckets. 3.4 Social Marketing and FSM Promotion A social communication and marketing campaign for promotion of peri-urban FSM services was designed to support the service providers in reaching their potential customers. It included community-level awareness-raising on the importance of FSM and the role of private micro-enterprises in providing such services. In partnership with AMMEPS and relevant local NGOs, the project supported


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the preparation and dissemination of information, targeting different interest groups, such as a football tournament for the youth, and a local traditional “board” game called ntchuva for older men and women. Additional promotional activities were carried out by the service providers, using their own resources, in order to attract customers and to clarify community and household expectations regarding public and private sector roles in peri-urban FSM service provision. The project also ensured the accurate and timely collection of and analysis of data to document its activities, outputs, and outcomes.

FIGURE 15: THE FSM lOGO FOR THE MAPUTO FSM SERVICES

A slogan for FSM was created in order to promote the image of the service. “Khupa Xicoti” which in local language means “clean latrine”, was the slogan most voted by the community members consulted, and an associated logo was designed, which were used by the service providers in promoting the services. The logo (Figure 15) had to cover the service chain elements of emptying and transport, which were the services offered by the AMMEPS members; and to reflect the technological innovation, cleanness and access to difficult alleyways in peri-urban Maputo.


Fonte: Impact

Cores: Verde Castanho Preto

Logotipo

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FIGURE 16: NUMBER OF EMPTyINGS PER MONTH AND RAINFAll PATTERN FOR MAPUTO

4.1 Take-up of the ServiceFrom April to December, 2014, a total of 180 emptying operations were carried out, as reported by the service providers, of which 84% were septic tanks, and therefore in direct contrast to the project design concept which envisaged that most of the demand would be from pit latrines. As mentioned earlier, one reason for this is the rapid shift from pit latrines to water-seal toilets. A second likely reason is the prices charged, which are more than pit latrine owners currently pay to informal manual operators for emptying with local burial or dumping. The work carried out probably represents 10%-20% of the emptying in the District; however, it is not possible to state the exact proportion with any degree of certainty, as there are as yet no decent methods of estimating demand. It is also suspected that there may have been some under-reporting by the operators.

The peak number of services provided was reached in December, which coincides with the peak of the wet season in Maputo (Figure 16). In April, only 3 of the 8 operators fully started their operations, and the initial increment

between April and June is mainly related to increase in the number of operators. There were of course some teething problems in the first few months, notably learning how to use the trash pump, which is quite powerful, and caused a few spillages before the operators learned how to control the hoses. There were also personnel issues, as the operators had taken on staff specifically for FSM, who were paid but produced no income for much of the time. Subsequently, the micro-enterprises opted for having a basic workforce combining their solid waste management work with a minimum of FSM, with a pool of trained and trusted casual workers to be hired on a daily basis as needed. Some of the operators are working with the traditional manual emptiers for this purpose, but using the improved methods, under a supervisor who is a full-time operator employee.

From June to August, the number of emptyings decreased considerably, with the presidential election campaign being the main reason cited by the supervisors in the field. Most of the micro-enterprise managers, especially the secondary operators, were actively involved in the campaign, which coincidentally opened up some space for the primary

Results to DateIV.

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FIGURE 17: FSM OPERATIONS ACQUIRED By PRIMARy AND SECONDARy OPERATORS

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